If you’re looking for an experience that’s equal parts quirky, fascinating, and totally unexpected, DFW Ripley’s Believe It or Not in Grand Prairie, Texas, might just be your next perfect adventure. From eye-popping exhibits to mind-bending illusions, there’s truly something for everyone to marvel at. Our family recently explored this quirky attraction, and it was filled with enough weird, wonderful, and downright unbelievable exhibits to captivate visitors of all ages. Curious if Ripley’s lives up to the hype? Keep reading to find out what we loved!
I was provided with tickets for my family in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.
Table of Contents
Five Fun Attractions
- Ripley’s Believe or Not museum
- Louis Tussand’s Waxworks
- Ripley’s Moving Theater
- Ripley’s Mirror Maze
- Ripley’s PowerUp
You can buy tickets for 2, 3, or all 5 attractions. We did all five, and to go through all of them took us about 4 hours.
Louis Tussand’s Waxworks
With more than 200 lifelike wax figures, strike a pose and take a selfie with your favorite superstars!
This starts off with celebrities, singers, and actors and goes through to a hall of Presidents. There’s a large display that goes through the life of Jesus as well as fairytales. You can see Marvel heroes and even some real live dictators like Hitler, Putin, and Kim Jong Un.
The best part for us was the Fear pathway. There is a warning before you enter this part and a place to exit with small children. My 7 year old wanted to try it, but she did end up scared due to the loud noises and a “leaf man” that jumps out of the wall at you. It was basically a haunted house with all kinds of scary stuff from zombies to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre guy. If you like to be scared, you’ll enjoy it.
Ripley’s Believe or Not
I visited this place many years ago as a child with my grandma, but I didn’t remember any of the stuff we saw. There is all kinds of amazing unusual artifacts from a fake mermaid to a portrait made from kissing to art that is so small you need a microscope to see it. My personal favorite was a real vampire-killing kit sold in the 1800s. I loved it so much, I had to buy a t-shirt of it.
My family loved all the hands on things you can do from walking through a vortex tunnel to an entire sensory room of things you can play with, including a giant pin art board, a shadow room… and my personal favorite was the dance party room. There’s music and it makes an outline of your body on the screen where you see yourself dance in a rainbow of colors. My youngest daughter and I spent quite a bit of time dancing in there.
Ripley’s Moving Theater
This is a ride, a movie, and a game all in one. You can choose from different movies they offer. The employees told us the werewolf one was the best, so that’s what we went with. Each person sits in a seat that requires a seatbelt and you have a gun. Your goal is to shoot as many werewolves as you can in the movie.
It was a lot of fun. At the end it takes a photo of each person and shows who won the game.
Ripley’s Mirror Maze
This is as funhouse with mirrors. They have disposable gloves for you to wear to prevent too much smudging on all the mirrors. As you go through the maze, you’ll find a “selfie room” that’s covered in a rainbow of lights. We took lots of selfies. Then, you can make your way to the exit.
Our teenager found the exit first, and we could see her in all the mirrors, but it took the rest of us a long while to find our way back. I thought I might end up trapped in there forever.
Ripley’s PowerUp
You can play this in in a group of four. It’s a video game. You enter, and three walls are giant video screens. Each person gets a controller, and your goal is to shoot all the gooey monsters. It’s a bit similar to the movie, but here you stand up and can move around to the different screens to kill the monsters.
We found if you stand further back from the screens, it’s easier to shoot things.
Get a Coupon for Ripley’s Attractions Combo Ticket
$5 OFF Ripley’s Attractions Combo Ticket with code DFWKIDS – Show this coupon at the ticket counter or use code DFWKIDS to buy online and SAVE $5 on a 5-Way Super Combo ticket!
Ticket includes admission to FIVE attractions:
- (1) Ripley’s Believe It or Not! – Explore hundreds of oddities, artifacts, memorabilia, and more from around the world!
- (2) Louis Tussaud’s Palace of Wax – Strike a pose with over 200 lifelike figures, from the famous to the infamous!
- (3) Ripley’s Power Up – Battle it out against friends and family in this virtual, all-ages gaming experience!
- (4) Ripley’s Enchanted Mirror Maze – Find your way out or lose yourself in seemingly endless hallways of lights and mirrors!
- (5) Ripley’s 7D Moving Theater – Become part of the movie in this full-throttle, interactive motion simulator ride!
Children 3 & under are FREE!
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